NJ lawmakers approve instant receipts for E-ZPass customers

It's not yet known what it would cost to equip New Jersey's E-ZPass system with the ability to issue instant receipts electronically, but legislation that requires the move has already received overwhelming support from New Jersey's lower house.

Approved by the full Assembly and waiting for action in the Senate is a measure requiring that E-ZPass lanes on the Garden State Parkway, New Jersey Turnpike and Atlantic City Expressway be able to transmit immediate notification to a customer when a vehicle on their account has passed through a toll plaza.

It'd be up to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which operates the Parkway and Turnpike, and the South Jersey Transportation Authority, which operates the Expressway, to install and operate devices that can make it happen.

"This bill says we should be entitled to having the option of getting an electronic receipt when a transaction is made. It's as simple as that," Assemblyman Roy Freiman, D-Somerset, said during a legislative hearing on his bill. "It's getting E-ZPass in line with all our other electronic purchases."

Freiman said consumers wouldn't put up with zero receipt or electronic acknowledgement when using their credit card at a store or online.

"But when it comes to E-ZPass, we don't get any acknowledgement or receipt that our transaction occurred," Freiman said.

The instant notification can occur by email, text message or through a mobile application, the bill states. If it were to become law, the measure "shall not infringe upon any contract that is currently in place."

E-ZPass customers can currently view their toll activity by accessing their account online.

There is no fiscal estimate attached to the bill on the New Jersey Legislature website. It cleared the Assembly 71-4 on Feb. 25. It was referred to the transportation committee in the Senate.